Method of and apparatus for raising roofs



s. M. GOODER 1,874,005

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR RAISING ROOFS Aug. 30, 1932.

Filed March 8, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet l Aug. 30, 1932. s. M. GOODER METHODOF AND APPARATUS FOR RAISING ROOFS Filed March 8, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Patented Aug. 30, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SETH M; GOODER,QFOHICAGO ILLINOIS METHOD OI AND APPARATUS FOR RAISING ROOFS Applicationfiled larch 8, 1929. Serial No. 345,807.

It is sometimes necessary to raise the roof Referring to Fig, 1 f th d iA of a public garage in order to permit another represents the side wallof a garage or other story to be added. Garage roofs are usuallybuilding in which the roof is supported on supported on long transverseroof trusses, long roof trusses, and B, B are the roof Heretofore thepractice in raising roofs has trusses. Along the wall, underneath thead- 55 been to build up piers underneath the ends jacent ends of thetrusses, is placed a heavy of roof trusses, jacks, being placed on thesebeam 1, or a series of beams each long piers, and the height of thepiers being gradenough to span the distance between two of uallyincreased as the lifting progresses. the trusses. This beam is supportedon the These piers are usually made in the form of 11 per ends of longjacks, one of which is w hollow crib-like structures that take up conpaced under each truss. The jacks are of siderable floor space, andinterfere withlthe the type in which coarse adjustments may be normaluse of the garage. The jacks, supmade in the body of the jack itself,while ported at about the center of the piers, will fine adjustments aremade with the jack is be located at a considerable distance from the.screw. In other words, only a short screw 65 corresponding ends of thetrusses; and since is required to provide a lift of any desired 1 thetrusses are designed for supports at the height. As best shown in Fig.2, the body ends, the shifting of the supports away from of each jack iscomposed of two long telethe ends, as is the case'when the weight comesscoped tubes, an outer tube 2 and an inner on the jacks under the oldpractice, sometube 3. The outer tube has bolt holes 4: and 70 timesresults in serious injury to the trusses. the inner tube bolt holes 5.Any pair of Moreover, the workmen must climb up on the bolt holes in theinner tube may be brought piers to operate the jacks. into registrationwith any pair of holes in The object of the present invention is to theouter tube, permitting a bolt, such as inmake it possible successfullyto raise a roof dicated at 6, to be passed through both of 75 by simpleand novel means that will carry the the tubes and hold the tubes againstrelative roof trusses as near to the. ends of the latter lengthwisemovements. At the lower end as the requirements for building on top ofthe of the inner tube is a heavy nut 7, the body old side walls permits,take up very little floor of which fits into the tube, while an annularspace and thus permit the normal use of the flange 8 thereon restsagainst the bottom 80 floor space while the roof is being raised, andedge of the wall of the tube. The nut need permit the workmen to remainon the floor not be fixed to the tube, but may be provided during theraising operation. with an ear 9 that fits into a notch 10 in the Thevarious features of novelty whereby tube to prevent relative rotationbetween the my invention is characterized will hereinnut and the tube. Ajack screw 11 extends 85 after be pointed out with particularity in thethrough the nut and has on its lower end a claims; but, for a fullunderstanding of my head 12 by means of which it may be turned.invention and of its objects and advantages, The head may have a centralboss 13 provided reference may be had to the following dewith asemispherical lower end adapted to tailed description taken inconnection with fit into a socket in a stationary base 14:, in 0 theaccompanying drawings, wherein: order to provide a firm support for thejack Figure 1 is a perspective view of a side of screw and yet permit itto be freely turned.

a garage and a fragment of the roof, together On the upper end of theouter tube is a suitwith equipment for raising the roof in acable head15 to engage with the work.

cordance with my invention; Fig. 2 is a ver- In using the jacks, thescrews are turned 95 tical central section through one of the liftinginto the nuts as far as they will go; the tujacks, on a larger scalethan Fig. 1; and Figs. bular body sections are adjusted so that the p 3and 4 are elevations of the lower end of the overall length of the jackwill be slightly less 'ack, showing what may be termed the side than thedistance between the underside of and the front, respectively. the beam1, in Fig. 1, and the floor; and the loo I nected to the outer jacks,including the base members 14, are then placed beneath the beam, oneunder each roof truss. Unless the floor itself will form a suitablesupport for the bases of. the jacks, I place blocks, such as indicatedat 16, in posltion for the jacks to rest upon.

All of the jacks are tied together by means of diagonal tie rods;suitable struts or spacers are placed between the jacks; and a diagonalbrace is positioned between each jack and the lower chord of theoverlying truss. Consequentl when the jacks are operated slowly to liftfirmly supported against any tendency to shift sidewise or endwise; bothsides of the roof being, of course, supported in the same way.

The ties, braces, and struts are all contubes 2 of the jack bodies. Nearthe lower end of each of the outer tubes are a pair of diametricallyopposed, rojecting ears 18, while near the top of t e tube are a similarpair of cars 19. The two sets of ears are in the same plane, so that allof these ears will lie in the plane containing the vertical axes of thejacks when the latter are set up as shown. Surrounding each jack body,above the ears 18, is a-collar 20 that may turn about the vertical axisof the jack. If desired, an annular rib or flange 21 may be welded onthe body of the jack just below the collar. Projecting from the outertube of the body of the jack, a short. distance above the loose collar,and at diametrically opposed, aligned points, are screwthreadedprojections or pins 22. The common axis of the pins 22 is at rightangles to the plane of the ears 18, so that one of the pins will be onthe front side of the jack and the other at the back when the jack isplaced in the position of anyone of the jacks in Fig. 1.

The jacks are connected together by diagonal, crossing tie rods 23, eachrod being pivotally connected at one endto an ear 19 on one jack, and atits other end to an ear 18 on the next jack of the series. .Each tie rodpreferably contains. a turn buckle 24. Pivotally connected at its lowerend to an ear 25 on the loose collar 20 of each jack is a brace 26. Thefree end of this brace has a head 27 that is adapted to fit against theunderface of the lower chord of the corresponding roof truss, and befastened to such chord by screws 28 orother suitable fastening devices..The brace is preferably made oftwo telescoping tubular members, theouter member of which is connected to the jack, while the upper andinner member carries the head 27. The two members of each brace areprovided with a series of holes 29 and 30, respectively. In placing thebrace in position, these two members are moved lengthwise relatively toeach other until the proper overall length is secured, and then a pin orbolt is passed through registering holes in the two members so as to theroof, the latter is .the roof throu jacks themselves need secure thelatter together a ainst relative endwise movements. The 'ac s areconnected together by struts of which there are preferably two asindicated at 31, 31. These struts may conveniently be in the form ofstructural channel irons, one of which is placed behind and the other infront of the acks. The webs ofthe channels are perforated to receive thescrewthreaded pins 22. After the struts have been slipped over the pins,nuts 32 are applied to the latter and serve to hold the struts 'firmlyin place.

It will be seen that the jacks are tied tog'ether in such a manner thatthe roof is held against swaying in the lengthwise direction.

Furthermore, each jack, the corresponding diagonal brace, and thatportion of the overlying truss extending between the upper ends of t 1ejack and the brace, form a triangle whose sides are held againstdisplacement relative to each other in the plane of the triangle,whereby the roof is stably supported against transverse swayingmovements.

Assuming that the beams and the jacks have been placed in position onboth sides of the building, the raising of the'roof is carried out asfollows: all of the jacks are operated so as far as this canconveniently be done b means of the screws. Then, while the roo is heldup, the screws are backed ofi and the bodies of the jacks are extendedto increase their original length by an amount equal to the distancethrough which the roof has been raised. The screws are then againoperated to lift gh another step. These operations are continued untilthe roof has been raised to the desired height. If desired, a temporaryjack may be placed take the load off of each jack while the screw in thelatter is being backed oif'and the body portion extended. However, Ihave found that no supports in addition to the lifting be employed. Ifwe consider the second jack from the left in Fig. 1, for example, it.willbe seen that the screw can be turned so as to raise the base 14from the supporting block, or rather to permit the nut to dro down outof the body of the jack, without isturbing the latter. In other words,the body of the jack is suspended from the two tie rods that extend fromthe bottom thereof in opposite directions to the upper ends of the firstand third jacks of the series. Consequently, if the turn buckles in thetie rods have been tightened so as to place these rods under an initialtension, jack and its load may successfully be carried by the tie rodswhile the jack is being adjusted so as to be readyfor the next liftingoperation. It will be seen that in lengthening the body of the jack, itis unnecessary to move the'outer tube with respect to the roof, theties, the brace, or the struts, since the inner tubes are simply droppeddown, after the gradually and evenly to lift the roof as.

in position to the body ofthe fastening bolts between the two-tubes areremoved. The bolts are then put back in place, locking together the twotelescoped members in their new relative positions. Then, upon turningthe jack screw far enough to transfer the load from the tie rods to thebases of the jacks, the jack is not only ready to do its part in liftingthe roof through the next stage, but it is adapted to help support theload on the jack next in line, while the latter jack is being backed offand its body lengthened.

It will be seen that a roof may be raised in accordance with myinvention without the need of building up piers or using anyinstrumentalities that will take up any considerable amount of floorspace, without endangering theintegrity of the roof trusses, and withoutdanger that the roof will be objectionably stressed in any part thereof.

While I have illustrated and described with particularity a simpleapparatus that I have successfully employed in carrying out my inventioncommercially, including a common type of builders jack having a liftingelement in the form of a screw, I do not desire to be limited to thedetails thus illustrated and described; but intend to cover all formsand arrangements which come within the definitions of my inventionconstituting the appended claims.

I claim 1. The method of raising a side of a roof which consists inplacing under the same a row of jacks having long extensible bodiescomposed of an upper section and a lower section provided with a liftingelement, tying the lower end of each upper body section to the upperends of the upper body sections of the two jacks between which it isplaced, operating the lifting elements so as alternately to lift theroof and back ofi the said elements,

. each lifting element being backed off while the body thereof is beingsupportedby the.

two nearest jacks, and thelower section of each ack body being loweredafter the corresponding lifting element has been backed each outer tubeto the upper ends of each of ing device on the lower end of each innertube, ties connecting the lower end ofeach outer tube to the upper endsof each of the two jacks between which it lies, and struts connectingthe lower ends of the outer tubes together. a

5. An apparatus of the charatcer described, comprising a row of jacks,each ack having a long body comprising two tubes telescoped upon eachother, means to hold the tubes against relative lengthwise movements inany one of various positions of adjustment, a liftmg device on the lowerend of each inner tu e, ties connecting the lower end of each outer tubeto the upper ends of each of the two jacks between which it lies, anddiagonal braces attached at their lower ends to the lower ends of theouter tubes and adapted to lie in planes at right angles to the plane ofsaid row and be secured at'their upper ends to the roof.

6. An apparatus of the character described comprising a row of jacks,each jack having a long extensible body comprising an upper and a-lowersection, a lifting element associated with the lower section, bracesadapted to connect the lower ends of the upper sections of the jackbodies to the roof at points remote from the corresponding jacks, and

means extending between corresponding sections of the jack bodies toproduce a structure braced against distortion in the plane of said row.

In testimony whereof, I sign this specification.

SETH M. GOODER.

2 An apparatus of the character described and a lower section, a liftingelement associated with the lower section, and ties connecting the lowerend of each upper body section to the upper ends of the bodies of thejacks lying on opposite sides thereof in the row.

3. An apparatus of the character described comprising a row of jacks,each jack having a long body comprising two tubes telescoped upon eachother, means to hold the tubes against relative lengthwise movements inany one of various positions of adjustment, 9. lifting device on thelower end of each inner tube, and ties connecting the lower end of

